A Nevada prison inmate has been awarded $60,000 in settlement after he filed a lawsuit claiming he endured “unbearable pain” while in solitary confinement.

Michael Sanzo, 47, alleged he suffered from intense pain in his bottom teeth, which were moving back and forth like “piano keys” during his time in solitary at High Desert Prison, near Indian Springs. Despite making numerous requests for treatment, over a period of at least three months, no medical aid was forthcoming. Instead the prison kept him locked up in a solitary cell for starting a courtyard fight and told him to wait his turn.

Desperate from the excruciating pain, Sanzo took matters in his own hands and removed his teeth by punching himself in the face and by “other macabre means.”

Sanzo was later transferred to Ely State prison and given false teeth.

Although solitary cells serve to keep the most dangerous prisoners isolated from the rest of the prison population, this practice is one of the most abused tactics to subjugate inmates in the U.S.

While in solitary, many prisoners suffer from neglect and the long-term psychological damage that comes from being in stark solitude for long periods of time, most often which prevents them from rehabilitating enough to successfully rejoin society — which begs the question why solitary confinement is so often used.